Emelyn Rodriguez

Emelyn C. Rodriguez practices political law, specializing in governmental ethics, lobbying, campaign finance, and administrative law. She also has expertise in conflicts of interest rules under the Political Reform Act and Government Code Section 1090, the California Public Records Act and open meetings laws, and campaign advertising disclosure laws.

She served as Chair of the Sacramento Ethics Commission. She was a former Senior Commission Counsel with the Fair Political Practices Commission for 13 years. She regularly presents at educational conferences, seminars, and panels. She has represented clients in federal civil rights litigation and worked on consumer protection, First Amendment, and environmental cases for various nonprofits.

She earned Bachelors degrees in Mass Communications and Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and her law degree from the University of California, Davis.

Prior to her legal career, she was Capitol Bureau Chief at the Oakland Tribune (part of the Alameda Newspaper Group), where she provided and coordinated state news coverage of the Governor’s office, the state Legislature, and statewide public policy issues for six San Francisco Bay Area daily newspapers.  She reported for the Los Angeles Times, The Seattle Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and was senior editor at the California Journal, the state’s political magazine. She has worked extensively in public service, volunteering for non-profit organizations such as United Way and Legal Services.